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His Church: Charity re-uses donated counterfeit clothes

Instead of handing counterfeit designer clothes to customs or trading standards to be destroyed, they are being donated to a charity for redistribution to the homeless and vulnerable. How does the scheme work?

Charity co-ordinator Richard Humphrey lifts his face and hands to the heavens and laughs as we pass a huge pile of fake Tommy Hilfiger jeans in the rebranding room of the His Church warehouse.
"I can't believe we're even getting calls from America now," he grins.
The counterfeit jeans had been bought by a French supermarket in good faith, but brand checks soon revealed they were either pirate labels or stolen stock and they had to be removed from sale.
Rather than handing the clothes to customs or trading standards authorities to burn or destroy, Tommy Hilfiger contacted His Church and asked for its help.
"When they called us from the States," smiles Richard, "They said they believed we were the 'world leaders in rebranding counterfeit clothes'. It was fantastic.
"So we went over to Belgium and picked up 1,600 pairs of fake jeans which we're now in the process of rebranding with our own logo, and then we'll be taking them down to homeless centres around the country." 'Virtuous circle'
In just six years, His Church has managed to convince 90% of British Trading Standards authorities to hand over all the fake designer clothes they seize to them.
In fact, the industrial sewing machines they now use to patch over pirated labels were recently given to them by UK customs officials, who had seized the machines from criminal gangs who were using them to create counterfeit clothing.
"It's all come round in a virtuous circle," says Richard. "It's a genuinely inspired idea which we've put into practice by faith and it's just borne fruit."
It was Buckinghamshire Trading Standards authority which first agreed to trust His Church to deal with its counterfeit hauls. Manchester, Liverpool and London followed and then West Midlands Police, the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police also signed up. Customs are now on board too.
The reason is simple; it's a cost effective - and feel-good - solution.
Every year customs and trading standards spend a fortune on storing fake clothes while waiting for a court decision, and then once the items have been proved to be fake the authorities have to fork out further for incineration or landfill costs.
His Church has removed all such costs and pass on the high quality goods to some 250 homeless centres and women's shelters across the country.
Even items which are too heavily branded to be patched over with the His Church logo are not wasted.
"We have permission to send them outside the EU, often to Africa," says Richard. "But we have a duty of care and trust. We have to keep an audit trail of every single item of clothing, where it's come from, exactly where it goes - even down to a pair of underpants."'Just do it'

The seized goods are patched over with the His Church logo

In the Lincolnshire warehouse where His Church houses its rebranding operation, the quality of the counterfeit clothes is striking - after all, the criminal gangs which made them had been hoping to pass off the sweatshirts and coats as the genuine article.
And that is good news for those who receive what His Church never terms as "hand-outs", but rather always refers to as "gifts".
"People who are rough sleeping," Amanda Ado, director of the London Spires Centre for the Homeless tells me, "rarely get anything that is brand new, or rarely get anything that feels like it's been given specifically for them. Getting something like this raises their head and makes them feel a bit better about themselves."
As she helps Richard unload his van of His Church coats, gloves and hats, she exclaims in surprise; each consignment he has brought for Spires has been gift-wrapped.
All this success has been achieved with just 30 volunteers and very little media coverage - in fact His Church doesn't even have a website. I ask Richard if it's just faith that's helped them through.
"You know," he says thoughtfully, "so many of us go through life talking about projects we're going to do and we talk and talk about them but somehow we just never quite get round to doing them."
He shrugs. "So I guess we decided to come at it from the opposite end; don't bother talking, just do it."

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Sunday, 18 December 2011

TEACHER, activist, artist, trade unionist, singer. The late Peadar McNamara was a lot of things to a lot of people, but to his family he was simply 'Dad'.

Speaking to a crowded Kilmaley church at his father's funeral mass on Saturday, Keir McNamara said, "So many people will reflect in the coming days on Peadar the teacher, Peadar the artist, Peadar the trade unionist, singer or health and civil rights campaigner. To us he was our Dad, the joker, the jester, the incredible hulk impersonator, the circus ringmaster at our impromptu circus in the sitting room, or the Muppet Show puppeteer at the back of the couch.
"Most of all though, he was a great husband to our mother Mary for almost 40 years. He was our best friend and our confidante, helping us achieve our ambitions and goals."
The former president of Clare Council of Trade Unions, chairman of the Ennis Congress Information and Opportunity Centre and chairman of the Ennis General Hospital Development Committee passed away on Wednesday surrounded by his loving family at his home in Magowna, Inch. A flood of tributes have been paid to him in recent days, including letters of condolence received by the McNamara family from both the President of Ireland and the Tánaiste.
To understand Peadar's flair, talent and drive, one should know that after an accidental fall as a child he spent three years in Cappagh hospital, mostly in a full body cast. He spent one and a half years in Baldoyle learning to walk again wearing callipers and in 1956, he was sent to Croom Orthopaedic Hospital, where he again spent a long period in a bodycast. It was here his hip was locked into position.
According to his daughter Eleonora, "As one can only imagine, after spending so much time confined to bed as a child, he was determined to never lie down again."
Peadar had a long and varied artistic career, showing an interest and talent at an early age.
He won the prestigious Times of India art competition age six, whilst still a resident in Cappagh hospital in 1950. As a student in the Christian Brothers in Ennis he was one of three students at that time to do art for the Leaving Cert without tuition. In 1963 he was the second student of art awarded a scholarship since the foundation of the Clare VEC in 1930.
He went on to study art and design in Limerick School of Art and Draughting at night under Joe Early in Ennis Vocational School. He worked as a commercial artist at Shannon Airport and transferred to London soon after.
In 1971 he returned to Ennis to take up the post as art teacher in Ennis Vocational School (Ennis Community College) where he taught art, craft and design to second level and adult students for 33 years.
His works have been ­exhibited in London, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Ennis.
Throughout his life his passion for the arts remained, and he and Philip Brennan founded the Ennis Singers Club 15 years ago. In the weeks prior to his passing, an exhibition based on historical information compiled by him honouring Clare soldiers who died in World War I was staged in Clare Museum. In the parish of Kilmaley, he will be particularly remembered for his involvement in the parish community games, Kilmaley Parish magazines, the choir in Inch Church and of course for his work on the Kilmaley Millennium Frieze, which is on display on the rear interior wall of Kilmaley Church.
He was a staunch member of the Teachers Union of Ireland and activist for many years. Bernie Ruane, president of the TUI, described him this week as an "exceptional trade unionist".
"He was a great man for getting things done, I remember his words at union meetings that we must never forget the proletariat. He was always working for equality and justice for everyone.
"He contributed an awful lot to the teaching profession, any past pupil of Ennis Community College would remember him with great affection," she said.
Former Labour councillor and long-time friend Michael Corley recalled how both he and Peadar joined the Labour Party as young teachers.
"He was a great friend and comrade. I have great memories of myself, Peadar and Mary being involved in many campaigns throughout the '70s, trying to promote left-wing social issues. Like everyone else, I will miss him greatly."
The Labour Party in Clare this week described Peadar as "the great socialist, artist and teacher from Inch who knew no boundaries in the pursuit of equality, civil rights and justice for everyone". Jo Walsh, chair of the Clare Labour Party Constituency Council said, "He was a free spirit in an increasingly conventional society and all of us witnessed that spirit of enthusiasm and energy with which he approached all of the campaigns he spearheaded.
"Peadar saw challenges as opportunities. He led the charge whether it was to develop and organise trade unionism in Clare, to not only encourage and instruct the pupils he taught but to change the curriculum and the very way in which they were taught, to building up the Labour Party locally and nationally, to organise singing and story-telling festivals, to develop and protect the health services, to recounting the stories and paying artistic homage to the unacknowledged heroes who were the Clare and Irish casualties of World War I." Members of Ennis Town Council also paid tribute to Peadar at their meeting this week.
As a veteran campaigner for Ennis hospital and the retention of health services in Clare, Peadar proved to be a constant thorn in the side of health officials at local, regional and national level. His opposition to the removal of 24-hour emergency services from Ennis hospital prompted him to play a key role in the organisation of a series of public meetings, demonstrations, including the major protest in November 2003, which attracted over 15,000 onto the streets of Ennis.
He served as chairman of the Ennis Hospital Development Committee from 2005 until December 2007 and previously worked as public relations officer for a number of years, starting in 2003 and 1988. He and his wife Mary were involved on the committee in some capacity since its inception as a lobby group to fight cuts at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis back in 1988.
Councillor Brian Meaney, who joined Peadar on the hospital committee recalled, "I travelled the roads of Ireland with Peadar in an attempt to get the various hospital groups to band together to resist the now very real downgrading of hospital services.
Peadar's conviction and vision recognised that unless the various hospital groups united, their campaigns would fail has proved true. Peadar has left a legacy through his writing, his art and indeed his work as a local health activist, which will continue to influence for many years. I hope that in time this legacy will dull the sharp edge of grief that Mary and family are now enduring."
Deputy Joe Carey, former secretary of the committee, recalled, "He was a champion of many different causes, for justice and social equality and he had a particular passion for health. He was a very strong voice for the people of Clare."
In a wide-ranging homily at his funeral mass in Kilmaley Church, Fr Tom Hogan said, "Peadar spent his life working for communities for the betterment of the country. He was so proud to be a McNamara from Francis Street and when the McNamara clan gathering took place a few years ago, he played a central role." Fr Hogan described him as a family man, teacher, artist, social advocate, gatherer of people but above all a "man with a big heart".
His son, Salvador, recalled his father did his utmost to ensure his six children had whatever resources were available to achieve their goals.

STORIES and memories of a Clare family's history back to the early 1800s have been carefully woven together by a man who wants to keep it all in the mind's eye. It's a story typical of many Irish families, a continuous line remaining at the homestead, while other strands extend around the world.

Basil Minihane, now living in Ennis but whose family roots are in Mahonburgh, Inch, has focused much of his research on his maternal ancestry, the O'Tooles from Clare. His father's family hail from Durras in West Cork.
Basil's parents, Elizabeth and Daniel (Frank), left Ireland to find work in England in the late 1930s. They met at Salisbury Hospital, where his dad was a cook and his mother a nurse and married in June 1944.
Though born in London in February 1946, Basil describes himself as a proud Clare man, a Munster man but adds with a smile that it didn't stop him cheering on Leinster when they won the European Heineken Cup.
Basil has lived in Ennis for 16 years and prior to that, for 20 years at Inch but was a regular visitor to the O'Toole household from an early age.
"From childhood, I was returning to Ireland every year, every time to Clare and then to my father's homeplace in County Cork.
"People are asked about their earliest memories and I realised from a photo that for me, I must have been about four-years-old when I said to my uncles, John and Michael, 'Put me up on the horse, put me up on the horse'."
Basil was educated by Salesian priests in Battersea and during school holidays worked in the Royal Hospital and Home for Incurables, first in the laundry and then as a porter.
It was memories of his summer trips to Clare and meeting his grandfather, Timothy O'Toole and uncles on the farm that prompted Basil to build a family tree.
"Timothy (born August 15, 1881) was a retired farmer, having bought, reared and sold cattle, grew crops, saved hay and brought milk to the creamery in Kilmaley. His eldest son, John, took over management of the homestead at Mahonburgh.
"It was the practice at that time to use the rotation system of managing the fields. Potatoes, cabbages and root vegetables would be grown in a different field each year. It was interesting for me to see this, as I had been learning about this farm practice in my geography lessons in London. To see it applied on a farm in the West of Ireland pleased me," he said.
Timothy (Tim) married Mary Liston from the Ballyalla/Templemaley side of Ennis on July 6, 1910 and they had seven children; Basil's mother was the oldest.
Timothy was the youngest child of Susan O'Toole (born 1840), who was twice married. She married James Daffy on July 16, 1864, and they had four children.
The family had a strong affinity with Gaelic games. In the early years of the GAA, Inch Davitts, mentioned in Ollie Byrnes' Against the Wind, was formed in the Daffy/O'Toole household in 1887.
The youngest, James junior, born on October 1, 1870 went to New York where he hurled on the streets of Staten Island with other young men from the Banner County. James, who changed his name to Duffy, became a successful businessman and was president of New York GAA in the 1930s and president of the Claremen's Association in 1938.
Some time after James Daffy senior died, Susan married again to John O'Toole. The couple had five children, the youngest being Basil's granddad.
Susan was a daughter of Terence O'Toole and Anne Galvin, who married on June 22, 1836 and had property at Roslevan. Susan died on April 18, 1918 at the age of 77, six years after her granddaughter, Basil's mother Elizabeth Frances, was born on January 12, 1912. The second girl in the family, Mary Ellen, was born in the same year on December 27.
When the girls enrolled at Inch National School, they were listed as Lilly O'Toole and Mary O'Toole on May 21, 1917 and May 22, 1917 (Courtesy Kilmaley Parish Magazine 1996).
"During my teenage years, I heard my mother say, 'I've had a hard life'. It was many years later that I came to understand why. Her mother passed away on February 16, 1949 and mum's sister, Mary Ellen, died in the Coombe Hospital, Dublin on May 21 that same year, aged just 35. Then a brother, John died in a 'flu epidemic in January 1951, aged 35," Basil recalled.

Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Co. Clare could attract thousands of overseas visitors to the area as part of a national project targeting the Irish diaspora but only with a long-term approach, a local genealogist has said.

Clare is ideally placed to take advantage of a resurging interest in genealogy and a growing genealogy tourism market according to the chairman of the Clare Roots Society, Gerry Kennedy.

"Clare is very well placed because of two things. The Clare County Library website has a genealogy section, which is attracting a lot of interest from people all over the world. It is regarded as one of the foremost genealogy sites in Ireland and we are very fortunate that Clare library has such an excellent site," he told The Clare Champion.

"The second reason is that Clare was one of the counties in the West of Ireland that had a lot of people emigrating over the years. There is a huge interest in Clare, particularly from Australia, because of the large numbers who left," he continued.

According to Fáilte Ireland figures, the visit of Barack Obama to the Tipperary village of Moneygall earlier, this year prompted 11,586 print and online articles and 4,416 separate broadcast pieces in the United States and UK, with 3,493 in the US alone.

"I have no doubt but the visit of Barack Obama prompted a huge interest given that if an African American president has roots in Ireland, it opens a lot of possibilities. If he can trace his roots back to Ireland then why can't you?" Mr Kennedy commented.

"I also believe that when people here start looking, they will find links to famous people. There are people out there that when we dig deep enough we will find them but it is a two-way process, the more records we put up online the more people who will trace their relatives back to a particular area," he added.

Mr Kennedy was speaking after attending the recent launch of the 2012 Ireland Reaching Out programme in Loughrea. The Ireland Reaching Out (Ireland XO) project is based on tracing descendants of Irish emigrants, proactively engaging with them and inviting them to become part of an extended "virtual" community with their place of origin. The national pilot project of Ireland XO was developed in South-East Galway from October 2010 through to July 2011, culminating with a successful Week of Welcomes event held in the area in late June.

"The project itself is quite interesting in that it is reversing the situation whereby instead of Australians or Americans tracing their roots here, that people from parishes in Ireland would identify who went from that parish to Australia or America and trace their descendents and invite them back," Mr Kennedy outlined.

"If parishes get involved, and it really is up to individuals in parishes to link in with the programme, the benefit would be that each parish would have an international diaspora that could identify with that parish and when you talk of the 70 million people worldwide of Irish descent, that could translate to anything up to 20,000 people per parish," he continued.

The Fáilte Ireland figures also show that an estimated 88,000 overseas visitors engaged in tracing roots or genealogical activities in 2010, with the greatest numbers coming from North America followed by the UK.

Dolores O'Shea, project administrator with Ireland Reaching Out is encouraging Clare parishes to get involved in the programme. "There are benefits economically, socially, as well as from an educational point of view. The pilot project in South East Galway brought communities together, within themselves and across the wider community. During the Week of Welcomes, the people involved in the project had as much craic as the visitors. We ran a lot of training courses during the year, funded by Leader, aimed at training people to interpret their own areas and become better tour guides for the visitors and now we have turned those lectures and training days into information packs for other parishes," she said.

Earlier this month Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar presented proposals for the biggest tourism initiative ever staged in Ireland. The Gathering, a year-long event to take place in 2013, potentially bring 325,000 extra visitors and provide a major economic stimulus.

Speaking at the Global Irish Economic Forum, Minister Varadkar said, "The Gathering will grow out of existing festivals, and foster many more spin-off events. Everyone has a chance to get involved, whether at local level or among members of Ireland's diaspora."

Illustrating the power of the Diaspora, Clare Roots held a conference this month, attended by 130 people, including visitors from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, America and Switzerland. The society is launching a DVD of the conference at Ennis Town Council offices. The event will feature a number of genealogy experts who will answer questions from members of the public who have "hit a brick wall in terms of their own research". It is free for members of Clare Roots but there is a fee for non members.

Anyone interested in volunteering to work on the Ireland XO project in their own area, or at project headquarters in Loughrea, can email the Ireland XO team at info@irelandxo.com or call 091 842013.

DeathIn Great Denmark Street, Dublin, Miss A. Vandeleur, sister of the late Right Hon. John Ormsby Vandeleur, and aunt of Colonel Vandeleur, Kilrush.

Suddenly at Kilfenora, on Saturday evening, after having taken tea, Mr. John Culliny, at the advanced age of 77 years, He maintained a character for strict integrity through life, and was much respected.

Clare Journal 16 Apr 1849
Birth
At Springfield House, Ennis, the lady of P. Fitzsimon, Esq., of a son.
Death
This morning, in Mill Street, at an advanced age., Miss Mary Parsons, sister
of the late B. Parsons.

Clare Journal 14 Jun 1849
Marriage
In the First Presbyterian Church, Cootehill, Philip O'Donnell, Esq.,
Provincial Bank, Cavan, youngest son of the late John O'Donnell, Esq., of
Ennis, to Marian, eldest daughter of John McFadden, Esq., Cootehill, senior
Coroner for Cavan.

Clare Journal 23 Jul 1849
Birth
In Church Street, Mrs. James Leech, of a daughter.

Clare Journal 23 Aug 1849
Marriage
Richard Trousdell, Esq., of Kilrush, to Miss E. Jackson, daughter of the
late Captain Jackson of the Clare Militia.
John McKay Esq., Provincial Bank of Ireland, Kilrush, to Rhoda Armstrong,
relict of the late Francis Creagh, Esq., of Kilrush.
Death
At the residence of her son, the Rev. Theobald Butler, Elizabeth, widow of
Theobald Butler, Esq., of F?lmoyne, county Tipperary, and daughter of
Augustine Fitzgerald, Esq., of Toureen, County Clare - ...........
In Kilrush, Miss Mary Anne Hennessy, daughter of Mr. William Hennessy.
At Carahan House., county Clare, George E. Hogan.

Clare Journal 16 Apr 1849
Marriage
In Kilmurry Church, on Tuesday, by the Rev. James Bennett, John Whitestone,
Esq., of Clondigad, to Frances, only child of the late Thomas Lloyd, Esq.,
of Clonkerry.